--- title: Explained: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank Shrub End canonical: https://www.petrolinadieselcar.co.uk/adblue-in-diesel/shrub-end-essex/ location: Shrub End county: Essex latitude: 51.873630 longitude: 0.863110 service: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank updated: 2026-10-06 --- # How It Happens and How to Avoid It: AdBlue in a Diesel Tank in Shrub End Stop reading a minute when the diesel tank already has AdBlue in it: ignition off, engine off, and call 0333 366 0103. In Shrub End, catching it before the motor turns normally means draining and a full flush where it stands. The rest of this page covers why it occurs and how to make sure it does not — handy if you are reading ahead of time. ## AdBlue in a diesel car: two tanks, two fillers Diesel goes to the engine — yet many newer diesels driven about Shrub End and Beacon End carry another fluid as well. AdBlue goes to the exhaust, where it is sprayed into the gas to fresh it, and it lives in a tank of its own. Each tank has its own filler. Under one flap, next to each other: that is the arrangement on many cars. On others, AdBlue's filler sits under the bonnet or in the boot instead. Diesel goes in at each forecourt visit, again and again. Someone who has to stop and work out where it goes normally fills the AdBlue side, from a bottle, and far less often. The slip lives in that gap. ## How does AdBlue in your diesel tank take place around Shrub End? Three things tend to come together, and carelessness is rarely one of them. On a drive off Greystones Close before work, or in the car park at Leather Bottle heading home: that's where the rushed top-up takes place. What is the reason for the rush? As AdBlue runs low your car tells you, and if it's empty, limp mode kicks in. The old car's filler is where your hand goes — but a hire car, a new vehicle or a company car keeps the fillers somewhere else. That's the second thing: a new motor. Lastly, the spout fits: diesel filler or AdBlue filler, it goes in as easily, and once the tip starts, nothing halts it. Lexden or the middle of Shrub End: it takes the same few seconds in both. ## How to tell the AdBlue filler from the diesel one Before you tip anything, whether on a drive in Chitts Hills or a forecourt around Shrub End, check these. They take a couple of seconds. - Read the cap rather than going by where it sits: AdBlue caps are commonly blue or marked "AdBlue", and diesel caps usually aren't. - The size. On plenty of cars the AdBlue filler neck is the smaller of the two. - Lift the filler flap and look for a label — plenty of cars show which goes in which inlet just there. - The handbook shows where it is when the filler is not next to your diesel cap: your boot, or under the bonnet. - Whoever had it before knows. Ask as you pick up a hire car or fleet car — at Colchester Town's car park, say — not once the light comes on. ## Topping up AdBlue without it reaching the diesel tank Anywhere around Essex the light comes on, here is a routine for the day. - Park then switch off. Not on a slope, not with your motor running, and not in a rush on the side of Egerton Green Road. - Silly as it sounds, speaking "AdBlue" out loud as you unscrew the cap does the trick — after you have located your filler and read it. - The diesel cap remains on. Where both sit under a flap, make sure it is closed before the bottle comes up. - Slowly does it, through the bottle's own spout, till it's full or the bottle is empty. - Shut the cap, and check once more — confirm your diesel cap stayed closed the whole time. Only then, start the car. If at stage two or three you find you have already poured into the diesel side, stop there. Never go on to stage five. ## Shrub End: already put AdBlue in the diesel tank? Short order, then. First: the motor remains off. On many diesels your ignition alone runs the fuel pump, and so do not switch the car on. Don't top up with diesel to thin it: AdBlue doesn't mix with diesel, it sinks to the bottom of that tank, where the fuel is pulled from. If you're on a forecourt, whether it's the Texaco or the East of England Coop, ask the attendants to help push your car away from the pump. Leave it where it is if you're on your own drive in Shrub End. When your engine has run already, stop somewhere safe then switch it off. Leave the M11 — under 50 miles out of Shrub End — at the next exit. Roughly how far did it go? Hopping across Shrub End is less a job than a trip of under 3 miles towards Colchester, and so say. ## When we arrive around Shrub End, what happens? The van reaches the vehicle anywhere it stopped — your own driveway, beside To The Glorious Dead 1914-1918, or outside Gosbecks Primary School. What liquid went in, the quantity, and if it ran: our engineers ask because those answers set both work and quote. During the call itself, you hear our price — ahead of dispatch. The fuel system is then purged thoroughly, once the tank is emptied. AdBlue crystallises and is corrosive to some of the metals in a fuel system, so it doesn't wash out on its own — which is why that matters more here than with petrol. After your filter has been cleaned — or replaced, where needed — fresh diesel is added, and then the vehicle gets tested. Before we go, our engineers start the engine and make sure that it's running correctly. Most jobs are finished in about half an hour after we arrive, provided the engine hasn't run — and the pumps our technicians use are safe on a live forecourt yet quiet after dark outside a house. Paying happens on the day, not upfront, and you are given the paperwork an insurer wants: an engineer's report and a VAT invoice. It's worth looking at your policy as the van travels to you: misfuelling cover comes with many policies. ## About Shrub End itself Shrub End is a suburban area located near Colchester in Essex, sitting at an elevation of 38 metres in the inland landscape of eastern England. Shrub End is characterized by its semi-detached housing stock and is situated close to nearby places such as Lexden, Stanway, and Abbey Field. Shrub End has a population of approximately 5621 residents and is within a short distance of Colchester, the nearest city. Shrub End is also within commuting distance of London, being around 49 miles from the capital. ## Shrub End and Essex: AdBlue drains across the area Over CO postcodes, our vans that cover Shrub End — a residential suburb — work the surrounding places too, Abbey Field and Stanway included. The van gets to you fastest with a postcode starting CO3 4. Shifting the vehicle isn't necessary. Our engineers drain it where it is — a side street near All Saints, Shrub End, a lay-by on the way to Westlands Country Park, a drive. Awkward to pin down, like the back of Plume Avenue Church? Close to a border? Asking is better than guessing, and so ring. ## Shrub End people: the short version First, the cap; then, the pour. AdBlue in your diesel tank regardless? Keep it switched off and call 0333 366 0103; Petrol in Diesel empties it where it stands, across Essex.